and
though she looked back once or twice and half hoped they would call
af-ter her, they didn't seem to know that she was gone. The last time
she saw them, they were trying to put the poor Dor-mouse head first
in-to the tea-pot.

"Well, I'll not go there a-gain," said Al-ice as she picked her way
through the wood. "It's the dull-est tea-par-ty I was ev-er at in all my
life."

As Al-ice said this, she saw that one of the trees had a door that led
right in-to it. "That's strange!" she thought; "but I haven't seen a
thing to-day that isn't strange. I think I may as well go in at once."
And in she went.

Once more she found her-self in a long hall, and close to the lit-tle
glass stand. She took up the lit-tle key and un-locked the door that led
to the gar-den. Then she set to work to eat some of the mush-room which
she still had with her. When she was a-bout a foot high, she went
through the door and walked down the lit-tle hall; _then_--she found
herself, at last, in the love-ly garden, where she had seen the bright
blooms and the cool foun-tains.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE QUEEN'S CRO-QUET GROUND.

A large rose tree stood near the gar-den gate. The blooms on it were
white, but three men who seemed to be in great haste were paint-ing them
red. Al-ice thought this a strange thing to do, so she went near-er to
watch them. Just as she came up to them, she heard one of them say,
"Look out now, Five! Don't splash paint on me like that!"

"I couldn't help it," said Five, "Six knocked my arm."

On which Six looked up and said, "That's right, Five! Don't fail to lay
the blame on some one else."

"You needn't talk," said Five. "I heard the Queen say your head must
come off."

"What for?" asked the one who spoke first.

"What is that to you, Two?" said Six.

"It is much to him and I'll tell him," said Five. "He brought the cook
tu-lip roots for on-ions."

Six flung down the brush and said, "Well, of all the wrong things--"
Just then his eyes chanced to fall on Al-ice, who stood and watched
them, and he checked him-self at once; Five and Two looked round al-so,
and all of them bowed low.

"Would you tell me, please," said Al-ice, "why you paint those ros-es?"

Five and Six did not speak, but looked at Two, who said in a low voice,
"Why, the fact is, you see, Miss, this here ought to have been a red
rose tree, and by mis-take a white one was put in, and if the Queen was
to find it out, we should all have our hea